12 month e-scooter and e-bike trial proposed for York

York could follow other cities like Milton Keynes and Cambridge by introducing a new 12-month trial to offer e-scooters and e-bikes at York Hospital and the University of York.

Scooter GIFs | Tenor

If approved by City of York Council, the preferred supplier will work alongisde York Hospital and the University of York to bring forward the trial later this month – ensuring safety, security and engagement with key groups are core to the trial being implemented.

The trial is part of efforts to support a ‘green’ restart of local travel and help mitigate the impact of reduced public transport capacity.

Funded and run in partnership with the Department of Transport (DfT), the trial could be rolled out in the city at York Hospital and the University of York.

There may be some scepticism about this project. Cycle hire schemes have not been successful in the past with some of the bikes ending up in the river.

We do have some doubts about the safety of electric scooters given the poor standards of road maintenance in parts of the City.

Still it may be worth a trial as long as taxpayers money is not put at risk.

A background report can be read by clicking here

Coronavirus York updates; 2nd September 2020

Deaths and test results

FIVE more positive test results have been announced today. That brings the cumulative total to 975.

The 7 day rolling average of positive tests reached 2.57 on Monday – the highest figure since early June.

The figures are likely to be of concern to residents. They are still below the national average and we don’t know how many tests were completed and therefore the percentage which were positive.

However, a statement from the authorities on the characteristics of the new cases is overdue.

On a more encouraging note, there have been no more deaths in any location, including the hospital and care homes.

York visitor numbers increasing

The latest footfall camera figures for central York confirm that visitor numbers are steadily increasing.

By the third week in August they had reached over 80% of the figures seen during the equivalent period last year.

The figures for the bank holiday are not yet available but it did appear to be busy in the City last weekend.

Comparisons of numbers for the weekends in the earlier part of the month suggest a slower recovery. This may be due to more people visiting the City during the week as they make the most of the school holidays.

The difficulties in arranging foreign holidays may also have given the City a boost.

Weekend footfall

There is still some way to go to achieve pre COVID numbers with some traders still suffering from the lack of office workers in the City centre.

Still the resurgence – which is born out by the numbers using the City’s car parks – is probably stronger and quicker than many might have predicted.

NB. Figures from some footfall cameras are unreliable and have been excluded for this analysis.